Suchergebnisse

In the course of the last fifty-five years the countries of the Western Hemisphere have developed effective instruments and procedures for cooperative action in many fields of common interest. There is, in the first place, the official governmental machinery for hemispheric cooperation—the Inter- American system—which operates through thirty permanent agencies. There are, furthermore, some thirty-nine semi-official and private agencies (Inter-American, Caribbean, Latin American, and South American regional, as well as bipartite) which have been established in response to recommendations of general or special Inter-American conferences, under the auspices of the government of some one American state, or by private initiative. And, finally, there are seventeen official agencies created by joint action of two states to deal with problems of special interest to them. In all, there are now eighty-six international agencies in the Americas, over half of them governmental. An adequate presentation of this very extensive machinery for collaboration would exceed the scope of an article. We shall only attempt here to show the variety of common interests now served by international agencies in the Western Hemisphere. Of necessity, the description of individual agencies must be rather sketchy but detailed information concerning the history, purposes, internal administration, and accomplishments of all agencies here mentioned may be found in a volume which has just been published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Unctad I, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development held in Geneva in the spring of 1964, marked a major milestone in international concern with and approaches to the problems of less developed countries. The principal achievements of this mammoth, contentious, allegedly economic gathering, however, were in the political realm. Economic issues of great importance were raised but not resolved. Instead they were consigned for study and consideration to the elaborate continuing machinery born at Geneva, as well as to various previously established agencies, and eventually to the agenda for UNCTAD II, convened in New Delhi in early 1968.

Presented is an attempt to demonstrate that where economic growth has been sufficiently high & sustained, it has been a powerful means of alleviating poverty. During the past few years, the international agencies have been playing down economic growth as the main road to the elimination of poverty & emphasizing the role of assets & income redistribution. The latest reflection of this attitude is the so called "basic needs" approach. This approach suffers from problems with (1) the definition of growth, (2) estimates of the number of people living in poverty, & (3) redistribution issues. Among the redistribution issues considered are land reform, nationalization of agricultural assets, & the provision of free education & health services. The 16 countries examined were chosen because they met the minimum growth criterion of at least a 7% average annual increase in real gross domestic product between 1960 & 1970. The countries are divided into those with over 6% per capita growth, those below 6% per capita growth, & those affected by redistribution issues. The first group includes Greece, Israel, Japan, Singapore, Spain, South Korea, & Taiwan. The second group includes the Ivory Coast, Mauritania, Mexico, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Syria, Thailand, & Togo. India & Sri Lanka represent the countries affected by redistribution issues. Welfare & social indicators for each country examined included consumption availability, gross domestic investment, food supply, housing availability, medical care, education radio receivers per 1,000 people, electric power, & newsprint consumption. Although rapid, sustained growth has positive effects on all economic groups, the effects can be offset by increasing population growth. Growth has not failed; there is simply not enough of it. International agencies should be cautious in advocating redistribution, for the results may be disastrous. 8 Tables. Modified HA.

AUTHOR DISCUSSES ALTERNATIVES OF PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL AGENCIES (PIAS), SUGGESTING THAT THEY ARE CHARACTERIZED BY NEGATIVE ATTRIBUTES: TREATIES OR FORMAL AGREEMENTS ARE NOT CENTRAL TO THEIR OPERATION, ETC. THESE ALTERNATIVE 'ORGANIZATIONS' ARE DIVIDED INTO 4 GROUPS: CHANGING LINES OF NATIONAL JURISDICTION; NATIONAL BUREAUCRACIES; PRIVATE GROUPS; NONCOMMERCIAL GROUPS. EACH IS COMPARED WITH PIAS.

Evaluates the forecasts of the World Bank, the U.N. Secretariat, and the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development. Considers models, peer group behavior, and institutional influences.